Russia Says More Than 800,000 From Chechnya, Surrounding Republics Took Part

MOSCOW—Hundreds of thousands rallied in the capital of Chechnya on Monday after the Kremlin-backed leader there declared a holiday to denounce the French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

Russia’s Interior Ministry said more than 800,000 people from the mainly Muslim republics along its southern rim joined the rally in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Though Russian officials often overestimate numbers at such events, media shots of the crowd showed what looked like hundreds of thousands of people...